I remember it well – that moment when I first noticed the protruding bulge near the belt in an adult male – affectionately named the pot belly. When did I make this alarming discovery? About ten years ago. I was practicing putting on the practice green of Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida, site of the 2002 USGA Senior Amateur Championship golf tournament. It was pleasantly warm in late September as several of us practiced our strokes on the little green in front of the clubhouse. For some still unknown reason I happened to look around at my fellow competitors, arguably the best senior (55+) amateur golfers in the country, all of whom had to basically beat the best players in their region to qualify for this national championship. As anyone at this level knows, qualifying for a USGA tournament is not easy. Since this was my first time playing in such a championship, I didn’t know what to expect from my opponents. But, as I looked around, noticing the huge pot bellies of nearly everyone, I couldn’t help but wonder if golf and fitness should ever be mentioned in the same sentence. Yet I knew that these guys could play like professionals. I still looked at their tummies with disbelief and, right there and then, decided I would never let myself deteriorate into that shape. Of course, the road to hell is paved with noble intentions and over the next few years my waistline expanded effortlessly. Thankfully, in early 2005 when my lifestyle changed for the better, the pounds came off. But there’s no question that I was headed in the direction of obesity – a destination that many Americans have sadly arrived at. As most of you know, obesity, the American pot-belly syndrome, has skyrocketed each year. In 2008 it cost the US an estimated $147 billion in weight-related medical bills. Proudly, the US leads the way down the yellow brick road, being the fattest nation among 33 countries with advanced economies. We’re off to see the wizard in hopes he has a secret cure. If pills worked, there wouldn’t be any overweight physicians. Think I’m kidding? Walk into your local hospital and look at the waistlines of the healers. And even though poor and uneducated people are generally more overweight than those with college degrees, obesity finds its way into all income levels. Look at our leaders. Visit the websites of most small or mid-sized towns and check out the photos of the mayors and city council folks. Mostly obese or overweight. Some are severely obese. These are the people we put in office. Our children look up to them. Hey there, our children are fat, too. Childhood obesity sadly increases each year. The medical community constantly searches for ways to combat the weight issue: new drugs, new surgeries. Well, this approach is failing. In the October issue of Weight Watchers magazine, CEO David Kirchhoff told an interesting story about his trip to a town near London for a series of WW meetings. The British hosts, wanting to keep everybody happy, placed large bowls filled with treats (snack bars, bags of chips, etc.) in front of everyone. No need to be hungry during these long meetings, they reasoned. But Kirchhoff assessed the situation correctly: temptation comes in many forms. Could he resist? Having lost weight and desiring to keep it off, he initially resisted. “I sat there and would stare at the bowls about every five minutes, pondering whether to give in and have a bar … Eventually, I started giving in …” Counting calories and following Weight Watchers menus have helped many to lose weight. But diets don’t work. Lifestyles do. This is where LifeNuts differs from the average diet. LifeNuts are committed to a specific set of habits, some of which include food consumption, which guarantee happiness and health in the golden years. Having a low BMI is part of the LifeNuts picture. But David is correct: people do succumb to temptation. We are human and imperfect by definition. So, if you don’t buy saturated fatty foods, they won’t magically appear in your refrigerator to tempt you. They won’t just happen to plop onto your dinner table. When you go out to eat, you can choose healthy foods. Most chefs can whip up something not even listed on the menu. In fact, good chefs enjoy such a challenge. Kirchhoff summarizes this concept well: “Worry less about having immense willpower and worry more about the food environment around us.” LifeNuts go one step further – they don’t worry (it just causes a rise in blood levels of cortisol), they have changed their lifestyle and live within the new boundaries ... happily.